1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a terminal insertion guide which can surely guide a terminal into a terminal chamber of a connector housing.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In FIG. 7 is shown the prior art terminal insertion guide disclosed in Patent Appln. 5-209145.
The disclosed terminal insertion guide 31 includes a pair of openable/shuttable guide arms 32 and 33. On the inside 34 of the one guide arm 32 is formed an upper guide wall 36 for the terminal 35, and on the other guide arm 33 is formed a groove 38 for the upper guide wall 36. The upper guide wall 36 has a downward slanted guide surface 37. The tip of the terminal 35 can be slid along the inclined guide surface 37 so that the terminal 35 is guided into a terminal chamber 40.
A pair of guide arms 32 and 33 in a united state are inserted between wires 40 extending from the connector housing 39 from above to through the wires 40 in order to spread the wires horizontally. The terminal 35 is passed between the wires 40 which are in a state opened slightly wider than terminal width L. The wire connected to the terminal 35 is held by front and rear pairs of hands 41 and 42. The tip of the terminal 35 is preliminarily inserted into the terminal chamber 40 via cooperation between the guide arms 32 and 33 and secondarily inserted deep by only by the rear hands 42.
However, in the prior art terminal insertion guide 31, when the wire 43 is grasped by hands 41 and 42, its terminal 35 may be located at a position lower than the required terminal chamber 40 or, alternatively, may be inclined downward. In such a case, the sloped guide surface 37 of the upper side guide wall 36 is of no use. Namely, the terminal 36 will escape downwards to bump against the lower opening end 40a of the terminal chamber 40 so that the insertion operation fails. In order to prevent this, the posture of the terminal 35 must be previously corrected, and/or the terminal grasping accuracy of the hands 41 and 42 must be previously increased.